


Pool Attendant Woes

by blynninja



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Female pronouns for Pidge, Gen, Other, because katie holt, lifeguard AU, pidge is a lifeguard, slide attendant, the boys cause trouble, whatever
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-07-26 09:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7569079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blynninja/pseuds/blynninja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The “You’re my age or older and I have to tell you not to go headfirst down the waterslide even though there’s a sign—but no one ever reads the signs” lifeguard AU nobody asked for. Et cetera. Pidge is a pool attendant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First posted VLD fic. Working on a few more that need to be a little fleshed out. I fell hard for this show, friends.  
> I was at work tonight and had to tell people around my age not to go headfirst down the slide and it put an AU in my head that I promptly sat down and wrote.  
> I'm terrible at titles but whatever.  
> Everyone is within a couple of years of each other in this particular AU: Pidge is 15/16 (old enough to work obvs) and Shiro is like 18. The boys are 16/17ish. I h/c Matt and Shiro as being similar ages (maybe Matt's a year younger?) and Pidge being a year or two younger than Matt????

Pidge sighed, scowling at the trio of boys at the base of the slide. They were the only ones in the pool area at the moment, and that or teen stupidity had apparently made them think they could ignore pool rules and not be called out for it.

Or maybe they’d taken one look at the small, quiet pool attendant and assumed she couldn’t have the guts to reprimand them.

They were wrong.

Pidge walked purposefully toward the stairs, scowl vanishing as she tried this the kind way first.

“Hey, guys,” she politely interrupted their chatter, catching the big one’s attention.

“I really can’t have you going headfirst down the slide,” Pidge continued, setting a hand on the poster behind them.

The big one’s eyes ticked guiltily that direction, as if he’d noticed and just not heeded it.

“Sorry! We won’t do it again!” he assured her, nudging the other two. “Right, guys?”

The other two nodded vaguely, eyes ticking toward her like they were sizing her up.

“Thank you!” Pidge chirped over-enthusiastically, smiling at the larger teen.

He smiled back and Pidge quietly turned and went back to her chair, purposely acting distracted by something to see what the boys would do.

The bigger one went first and she was pleased to note he did so feet first, flashing a V for victory—or a peace sign, she was never sure with some people.

Pidge smiled lightly, glad _he_ was following rules, at least.

The other two were not so obedient.

As soon as they thought she’d looked away, both boys went headfirst, and NOT one at a time, down the slide.

“Lance! Keith!” the bigger boy warned, motioning toward Pidge, watching out of the corner of her eye.

“Relaaaaaaax, Hunk!” the one she figured was Lance droned, waving a hand flippantly. “I do this _all the time_! None of the other lifeguards ever get mad at me!”

Keith nodded quietly and Pidge frowned. All pool attendants at the Garrison Inn were supposed to watch for three things: riders not going down one at a time, riders going headfirst, and swimmers hanging on the small basketball hoop.

(And food. Food in the enclosed pool area was a big no-no, and she’d had more than one parent complain about that rule.)

If the boys were getting away with things they shouldn’t _here_ , Pidge needed to have a talk with management. And maybe help re-train some of the pool staff.

“But she just said—” Hunk began, but was interrupted by a splash in the face from Lance, who challenged, “Are you a _chicken_ , Hunk?”

He made clucking noises as Keith stared at him boredly and Hunk grew steadily redder as he tried to come up with an answer.

Finally, he turned, climbed out of the pool, and snagged a towel before walking out the door.

Lance and Keith exchanged a look, shrugged, and headed back up the stairs, bickering about who would go first as they went.

Pidge scowled up at them, and she knew at least Keith was glancing at her, but he and Lance proceeded to go headfirst AGAIN, and Pidge stood and stalked to the edge of the pool, arms crossed as she waited for them to exit the slide.

Keith, at least, had the decency to look sheepish as he spotted her. Lance, on the other hand, looked proud of himself.

“C’mon, Keith, let’s go—” Lance stopped short at Pidge’s “ahem,” glancing at her.

“Uh, yes?” he asked, an eyebrow arcing up.

“You just went headfirst. Again. When I specifically asked you not to not five minutes ago.”

“…so?” Lance asked, crossing his arms right back at her.

Pidge scowled at him, pointing to the sign.

“Because you’re not supposed to! It’s dangerous, and you could lose me my job!”

“I _live_ for danger!” Lance replied, grinning broadly at her. “In fact, ‘Danger’ is my middle name!”

_Oh quiznak,_ Pidge moaned internally, _he’s turning into one of those stupid cartoon characters._

“Lance Danger McClain?” Keith asked, frowning. “I thought your middle name was Ricardo?”

Lance scowled at Keith and Pidge shoved between them to stop an altercation from beginning, poking a finger into Lance’s face.

“Listen, Will Robinson, I don’t care what your middle name is, or if you’ve done this before with the other lifeguards here. Today you’ve got me and I will _kick you out of this pool_ before I let you go down that slide headfirst again.”

Lance looked a combination of taken aback and challenged, and Keith just looked impressed.

“ _Reeeeeeally_?” Lance drawled, tilting his head in a way that made warning bells go off in Pidge’s head.

_Quiznak! Abort!_

“I’d like to see you _try!_ ” Lance continued, grinning.

Keith sighed, looking ready to drag Lance away, but a voice from across the pool beat him to it.

“Keith! Lance! Out! NOW!”

“Aw, way to be a tattle tale, Hunk!” Lance whined, and Pidge turned to find a taller man standing next to Hunk in the doorway, and realized she’d never heard the door open.

“Hey, Shiro,” Keith greeted the newcomer almost sadly, dragging Lance to the pool steps as Shiro headed their direction, Hunk trailing behind cautiously.

Pidge blinked as Shiro held out a hand as he reached her, then flushed and quickly shook his hand.

“Sorry about these guys,” Shiro apologized, waving toward a grumbling Lance and a ticked-off Keith.

“I leave them alone for ten minutes and they cause trouble. I guess I can’t take them anywhere.”

Shiro’s other hand came up to scratch the back of his head and Pidge’s eyes went wide as she recognized the prosthetic.

He noted her gaze and held up the arm, smiling and offering, “Matt said you might freak out. Uh, in a good way.”

Pidge blinked at him, and then placed his face: Takashi Shirogane, her brother’s partner for last year’s science fair.

“Shiro! I remember you now!” Pidge flushed again, ignoring the looks from the other boys. Hunk was physically holding Lance back from the steps while Keith watching Pidge and Shiro curiously.

“Your project took first place last year!”

Shiro grinned. “Only because you weren’t there to present yours, Katie. Matt said you would have beaten us easily if you hadn’t gotten sick.”

Pidge frowned at the memory but turned to pin Lance with a harsh glare as he slipped from Hunk’s grip.

He feigned innocence, but Shiro warned, “Don’t mess with this one, Lance. She can kill you, bring you back to life, and do it all over again in multiple ways.”

Lance scoffed at that at first, but when Shiro’s gaze didn’t turn teasing, he balked and sat down in the chair Katie had vacated to scold him.

“I think we’ll be going now,” Shiro decided, adding, “Have a good evening, Katie.”

She turned to smile at him, nodding and offering, “See you, Shiro.”

Shiro herded the boys out, Hunk at the rear in case Lance tried to bolt away again, and even with the slide running Pidge heard Lance’s teasing, “Who’s that, Shiro? Your girrrrrrlfriend?”

Shiro paused for long enough to tap Lance on the head with his prosthetic arm, replying, “She’s my best friend’s little sister, Lance. And you’re in big trouble for not doing as she asked.”

Lance groaned as Shiro shoved the door open and Katie laughed as she watched them go.

The rest of the shift would be easy—and, admittedly, boring—with those three gone.

She wondered vaguely how often they came to open swim, and resolved to ask Matt what he knew about Shiro’s prosthetic—for science.

With a sigh, Katie went back to her chair and picked up the newspaper to wait until more people showed—if any at all.

It was going be a _looooong_ couple of hours.


	2. Coworker Troubles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The “you’re always asking people to take your shifts and today is your last day good riddance” chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah! Someone wanted more of this AU, and I will happily oblige.  
> And yes, this chapter had happened to me. More than once, and not just with the pool position.  
> Not as long as the last chapter because not as much inspiration.

Katie had seen so much turnover in staff in two years at the Garrison Inn, both in pool and up at the front desk.

Never had she been so relieved (and, let’s be honest, _happy_ ) to see a coworker go as she was today.

Haxus had been here only a couple of months and had asked her and others to take more than half of his shifts for various reasons.

The only reason Katie was even covering a good chunk of his final shift today was because Coran had practically begged her to.

And she couldn’t very easily say not to Coran.

So here she was, trudging into the Inn with a fake smile as she greeted the front desk person—whose name Katie honestly hadn’t bothered to learn yet because chances were good she’d be gone in under six months anyway.

With a mumbled “hello,” she clocked in, snatched up an extra key to the pool, and headed down the hall.

The door opened before she could even put her key in and Haxus was blinking at her from the other side, looking very relieved to be allowed to go home.

“See ya,” Pidge said quickly as she headed for her customary spot, snatching the official pool keys from Haxus as she went.

He did not look sick, as he’d claimed to be in that morning’s text message, and Pidge was tempted to comment on it but only quietly watched him gather up his stuff—the not-allowed cell phone included—and thought _Good riddance_ at his back.

Half an hour later she was lamenting neglecting to buy a bottle of something caffeinated before work, and her inability to nap that afternoon.

Having worked a few hours at her other job and failed to take a nap in between, plus deciding to come in an hour earlier than originally planned, had made her very tired. Pidge sighed.

If nothing else, she might actually sleep tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had no clue how to end this, so this is what you get.  
> This happened to me a month or so ago with a coworker, though he didn't always ask everyone to cover his shifts. It happened a couple of times, but maybe not over half his shifts? But it felt like a lot. Actually, two coworkers over the last couple of years. This most recent time, he claimed to be sick and my AGM called to ask me to please cover his shift and I couldn't say no so I went to cover practically all of his shift and he did not look sick.  
> I do bother to learn my coworkers' names. I promise.  
> I'm not sure I like "Garrison Inn" anymore, but I can't think of a proper other name. I do, however, know that Coran would make a decent assistant manager, and Allura is the manager. So maybe Altea Inn? Or something? Idk. Working it out.  
> I have another short chapter in progress as well and I'm trying to decide if I can make it longer.


	3. Birthday Blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge deals with the aftermath of a birthday party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This happened to me one Sunday and it's one of the stories that I tell people when we compare terrible customer experience.  
> I'm not entirely happy with the end of this chapter but I wanted it out.

In the few years she’d been working at the Garrison Inn, Pidge had been many things: pool attendant, front desk associate, even somewhat of a housekeeper when needed.

And some days, like today, she also became a custodian. Most days she didn’t mind cleaning up a little—it was a necessary part of the job.

But days like today made Pidge question her sanity, and the Inn’s rules regarding birthday parties.

Today’s had been the worst she’d seen in her three or four years at the Inn, and she sincerely hoped this family was now on the “No Parties” list for the future.

They had started out fine—a little loud, but that was nothing Pidge couldn’t tolerate for an hour—but by the time theyd left, Pidge had resolved to check on birthday parties more frequently than toward the end of their hour in the party room.

The family had finished up and the kids’ parents had been coming to get them when the mother had spotted Pidge cleaning the coffee counter and explained, “We sort of had a food fight.”

Pidge had paused in wiping up coffee spills and blinked as the mother had continued, “But I guess you’re probably used to cleaning up after people, huh?”

“…Sure,” Pidge had replied, cringing internally.

And now, standing in the party room doorway and observing the damage, Pidge understood why the birthday boy had run into the lobby covered in frosting, yelling about jumping in the pool—which Pidge had informed him he could NOT do but had offered the use of the bathroom shower instead.

There was frosting _everywhere_ : in the carpet, on the tables and chairs, on the _walls_.

And Pidge found herself vowing that if ever she had children, they would not have food fights anywhere that someone else had to clean up. Or they would stay and clean it up themselves.

With a sigh, Pidge began to clean, starting with the tables and chairs, taking extra time to make sure there was no frosting left on them. Then she moved the clean tables and chairs around so that she could vacuum up the crumbs and other things that had fallen to the floor during the party and cleaning off the tables.

After vacuuming, Pidge made sure the garbage was taken out and then set to work mopping floors and trying to get frosting out of the carpet and off the walls.

Cleaning up took more time than Pidge had anticipated, and by the time she finished and looked at a clock, she only had about two hours left of her shift, and more laundry than she could finish folding in two hours, even if she rushed.

When the night auditor arrived, Pidge was only too happy to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think I had two hours left of this particular shift, but it felt like it???


	4. Phone Calls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Pidge receives a "mystery call" and doesn't do so well.

Pidge scowled at the phone after she’d hung up, thoroughly upset at both herself and the cold caller.

Her first one of these calls in the year since they’d implemented this new system, and she’d messed up.

She hadn’t completely failed, but Allura was still probably going to ask her about it.

Though Coran could hardly complain—his last call like this had earned him less than 90%.

Pidge hadn’t failed. She’d just missed a couple of things—somewhat important things, yes, but not enough to completely fail her.

Who the hell expected to be told of cookies at check-in, anyway?

In her several years at Garrison, Pidge had never once mentioned cookies to a guest on the phone, and no one had ever asked, either.

And they didn’t even have cookies _every_ day, anyway—not that she’d ever tell a guest that. It was simply a hassle to keep baking cookies all day for people who expected a cookie any time of day when cookies were _only_ for registered guests and _only_ when they checked in.

Looking back at the call, Pidge knew she should have mentioned the water slide, considering the reservation had been for a weekend. But the caller had made it sound as though they’d already be busy all of their stay, so maybe wouldn’t have been able to use the pool. Still, it would have been good to have mentioned.

And most people balked at the Inn’s weekend rate for a regular room, so trying to upsell to a larger, more expensive room when there were only two people traveling for one night had seemed futile.

Now she knew for sure for next time, though.

But Pidge was something of a perfectionist, and spent the rest of the evening trying not to focus on how poorly her call had gone and instead tried to think of ways to make the next one better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This happened to me a couple of weeks ago, and then they didn't even post my call or my score on the intranet. But I got another a few days ago and the way the person started the call threw me off so I wasn't expecting it to be a "shop call" and I only got 75%, which isn't horrible, but also not great when my management prefer we get 100%.


	5. Google problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge deals with an address mix-up and a language barrier.

That had to have been the most eventful half an hour of work in a while, Pidge mused after the Spanish-speaking couple had left the building for what she hoped was the last time.

They’d come in just after 2pm looking for an appointment, and when they’d said the name of the location, Pidge had known exactly where they needed to go. She’d interviewed there a year or so ago before but hadn’t taken the job.

Unfortunately, the couple’s English wasn’t perfect, and Pidge’s Spanish even less so. She knew just enough to ask a few questions, but not enough to give directions.

So she had walked the couple outside, pointing and speaking slowly and deliberately.

A few minutes later, they’d come back, and Pidge had printed them a map detailing exactly how to get to their appointment.

Maybe 10 minutes later, they had been back in the parking lot with a girl Pidge figured was a relative or friend whose English was better. She’d printed the same map for the girl, but within minutes a gentleman had walked in asking for directions as well.

His GPS kept pointing him to the Inn, and Pidge had tried explaining to him, too, that they wanted a building about a block from the Inn.

She had even tried calling the center for them, but a confusing menu combined with another phone call had made her stop.

They must have found the place, though, because by the end of her shift they hadn’t returned.

As her shift ended, Pidge made a note in the computer system about the couple and the address mix-up, making a mental note to look into it further tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This actually happened to me, though the couple I dealt with wasn't Spanish-speaking. I chose to change the language. But there is a building that's listed as the same address as our hotel, just on the opposite side of the main street in town. And I did interview there a few years ago.


	6. Sleepy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Katie has a long day and has trouble staying awake on the job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look! Two chapters in a day!
> 
> I started writing both these chapters a couple of months ago and pretty much finished them last night while I had nothing else to do at work.

Katie was so. tired.

It was partly from staying up too late last night marathon-ing a show on Netflix, she’d admit it.

But it had also been a really long day. She’d worked right away in the morning at one job and then had about 20 minutes in which to change and grab something resembling dinner before working another seven hours in the pool.

The first two or three hours had kept her on her toes, but now it was pretty quiet, just a couple of families hanging out.

She’d already had a cup of coffee (diluted with water and creamer because black coffee was awful) and the other half of a bottle of Pepsi from her shift the day before.

The caffeine seemed to be wearing off, and it was already dark out thanks to Daylight Saving Time ending the week before, so Katie was having to keep reminding herself that it was not, in fact, time to go to bed.

But the people in the pool area didn’t really require a ton of her attention, as Grandma was with the kids and keeping them in line.

Those were Katie’s favorite families—the ones with parents or grandparents who actually swam with their (grand)kids and reminded them of the rules, et cetera.

They made her job easier, and a lot of times they were fun to watch.

But tonight she was too tired to find enjoyment in this family’s antics.

She had no laundry to fold, and she didn’t like to clean the windows when they were people in the pool for fear of spraying them with the (albeit diluted) vinegar and glass cleaner she used. Not to mention it didn’t do much good in the winter, as the humidity caused the windows to fog up again within ten minutes of cleaning them.

So Katie headed to the front desk to see if Nyma needed any help with anything.

At least it got her moving and made it harder to fall asleep.

Nyma didn’t help with anything—and in fact wasn’t _being_ much help, sitting at the table staring at her phone instead of folding laundry or dusting or whatever else she could have been doing.

Katie sighed, rolling her eyes and wondering not for the first time why Coran and Allura kept Nyma around.

Since there was nothing to help with, Katie poured herself another cup of coffee and headed back into the pool area for a couple more hours of trying not to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The families who hang out with their kids in the pool are my favorites. It lets me leave the pool area for a few minutes to grab towels or whatever without worrying about them running or going headfirst or going down in "chains" etc.
> 
> I do have a coworker that gets complained about and doesn't always seem to do everything they should. It gets a little frustrating.

**Author's Note:**

> Ricardo? Idk. Everyone headcanons Lance as Brazilian or Hispanic or w/e, and that was the first vaguely-Spanish-sounding name that came to mind. He maybe doesn't have a canon middle name?? And maybe that was Keith forgetting Lance's actual middle name, IDK.  
> Ha. Will Robinson. Get it? Because Danger?  
> So this started as a quick thing and turned into a partial PSA in the middle LOL. Listen to your lifeguard/pool attendant. (And yes, there's a difference. I just don't have Pidge bring it up in the fic because it's usually not worth the hassle.)


End file.
